Curling broom

ABSTRACT

A CURLING BROOM COMPACTED FROM POLYURETHANE FOAM IN A MOULD AND COVERED WITH A LATEX SKIN. A FLEXIBLE PLASTIC STRIP IS EMBEDDED IN THE FOAM TO ACT AS A SPRING.

Sept 2@ 1971 a. mamma 3,605.1@

CURLING 8R00 maa maken v. 1969 lNvR Gamas f: MR2/:

"Y az/64 ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,605,164 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 U.S. Cl. 15-210R 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A curling broom compacted from polyurethane foam in a mould and covered with a latex skin. A flexible plastic strip is embedded in the foam to act as a spring.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in the manufacture of curling brooms.

Conventionally curling brooms are manufactured from broom straw secured to one end of a handle and the manufacture of such brooms is relatively time consuming and expensive due to the variety of steps required in order to produce a resilient, compact and reasonably long lasting curling broom.

Not only are such brooms relatively expensive to manufacture, but they suer from a disadvantage inasmuch as pieces of broom straw are continually breaking away from the broom during use with the inherent danger that a piece of said broom straw will be engaged by the curling rock as it slides along the ice surface.

The amount of broom straw normally breaking from brooms is evident when curling sheets are cleaned after each game at which time it is not uncommon for the cleaner to have to remove a considerable amount of straw debris from each sheet.

The present invention overcomes all of the disadvantages inherent with corn brooms yet still provides a broom which is satisfactory in use, it being understood that the main purpose of a curling broom is to polish the ice surface in advance of the rock sliding thereon as well as to remove any dirt or debris which may be in its path.

The present invention is formed from polyurethane foam or the like and covered with a latex rubber skin t provide good wearing qualities during use. The resiliency of the broom is controlled by a nylon or similar ilexible plastic strip embedded within the foam and it will be appreciated that the resiliency can be controlled by the characteristics of this strip spring.

The broom is relatively easy to manufacture and extremely economical to produce and will last considerably longer than conventional corn straw brooms.

With the foregoing considerations in view, and such other objects, purposes or advantages as may become apparent from consideration of this disclosure and specification, the present invention consists of the inventive concept exhibited in the method, process, construction, arrangement of parts, or new use of any of the foregoing herein particularly exemplified in one or more specific embodiments of such concept, reference being had to the accompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of my invention.

FIG. 2 is a view at right angles to FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary isometric view showing one form of construction.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the broom head cut away to show the construction.

FIG. 5 is an end View of FIG. l.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged view of the attachment to the broom handle.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevation of an alternative form of a strip spring.

FIG. 8 is a view at right angles to FlG. 7.

Proceeding therefore to describe the invention in detail, in the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the dilferent gures.

Reference character 10 indicates an elongated handle of conventional construction, the lower end 11 only being shown.

This handle is bifurcated as at 12 by means of a wedge shaped notch 13 being formed therein.

The broom head collectively designated 13' consists of a pair of elongated, rectangular cross sectioned blocks 14 of polyurethane foam which may be die cut to the desired shape or formed in any other conventional manner.

Between these is sandwiched a strip spring 15. This strip spring is preferably made from a strip of resilient and flexible plastic such as nylon or the like. The extending end of the strip 15 is inserted within the recess 13 in the end of the handle and the upper ends 16 of the blocks 14 lie upon each side of the broom handle end lll. Bolts or rivets 17 extend through the ends 16, through the end 12 of the handle and through the end of the strip spring 15 within the recess 13. These bolts or rivets hold the blocks 14 and the spring 15 firmly to the handle 10 and, when tightened, squeeze the upper ends 16 of the blocks against the surface of the handle. The blocks 14 may be adhesively secured together around strip 15 prior to this step.

The entire head is then coated with a layer 18 of latex rubber which is then cured, said curing causing it to adhere firmly to the exterior of the blocks 114 and it is desirable that this process takes place within a mould so that a substantially flattened oval configuration is produced as shown in FIG. 5. The mould will also produce longitudinally extending striations 19 upon the outer surface of the latex rubber thus giving a simulate corn broom effect to the outer surface.

The latex rubber layer 18 also bonds to the lower end 11 of the handle and the shape of the mould is such that this blends in with the handle as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. A conventional cloth sleeve shown in phantom and indicated by reference character 20 may surround the shoulder portion of the completed broom in the conventional manner and may be secured either by adhesive or staples extending into the broom head.

By controlling the length and also the resiliency of the strip 15, the action of the finished broom can be controlled to provide a relatively light, very exible broom or a relatively weighty heavy type broom depending upon the requirements of the ultimate user.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show an alternative embodiment of the strip 15. The end 11 of the handle is provided with a slot 21 within which is inserted a length of spring steel wire 22 by the end 23 thereof. This length of spring steel wire is sinuously curved in one plane as illustrated in FIG. 7 and extends through the foam broom head in a manner similar to the strip 15 hereinbefore described.

A pair of at strips 24 are bolted by the ends 25 thereof through the end 11 of the handle and through the end 23 of the wire and extend upon each side of the curved wire as shown in FIG. 8 to be secured adjacent the ends 26 thereof by means of nut and bolt assemblies 27 extending through the wire 22 and terminating part way along the length of this wire 22. This gives a stiffer spring action to the broom and the stiffness controls this spring action.

Various modications can be made within the scope of the inventive concept disclosed. Accordingly, it is intended that what is described herein should be regarded as illustrative of such concept and not ffor the purpose of limiting protection to any particular embodiment thereof.

What is claimed to be the present invention is:

1. In a curling broom, the combination of a handle provided in one end portion thereof with an open-ended recess, and a head mounted on said one end portion of said handle, said head being of laminated construction and including a pair of elongated blocks of resilient foam plastic material and a at flexible spring strip interposed between said blocks, one end portion of said strip extending into said recess, the adjacent end portions of said blocks being superposed on the respective opposite sides of the recessed end portion of said handle, a fastener element extending transversely through said superposed end portions of the blocks and through the recessed end por- Cil tion of the handle and through the end portion of said strip in the recess, whereby to hold the components of said head and said handle in assembled relation, and a layer of ilexible latex rubber covering outer surfaces of said blocks.

References Cited OTHER REFERENCES Nonporous Urethane"-Chemical Engineering, Magazine July 22, 1963, page 98.

WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner A. I. CANTOR, Assistant Examiner 

